Agricultural product peeling apparatus

ABSTRACT

An agricultural product peeling apparatus includes an alignment supply unit, a peeling unit, and a plurality of urging plates. The alignment supply unit aligns and supplies agricultural product such as potatoes. The peeling unit includes a pair of parallel rotary members with a cutting body on their outer surfaces and peels with the cutting body the agricultural products, sequentially supplied from the alignment supply unit to a convey path formed between the rotary members. The urging plates move the agricultural products supplied to the start side of the convey path to the end side of the convey path.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an agricultural product peelingapparatus which peels agricultural products such as potatoes, taros,kiwi fruits, avocados, and the like.

Conventionally, agricultural products such as potatoes are peeledmanually by an operator using a knife, peeler, or the like, as disclosedin, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-221148, or automaticallyusing an automatic peeling apparatus as disclosed in, e.g., JapanesePatent Laid-Open Nos. 2002-253190, 8-504567, and 2005-040119, andJapanese Utility Model Registration No. 3084921.

According to the automatic peeling apparatus described in JapanesePatent Laid-Open No. 2002-253190, a large number of potatoes are loadedinto an outer cylinder having an outer surface with a large number ofpunching holes through its openable/closeable reception port. The outercylinder is rotated to peel the potatoes with the hole edges of thepunching holes.

According to the peeling apparatus described in Japanese PatentLaid-Open No. 8-504567, a pair of rotary members having outer surfaceswith brush-like teeth cut the surface layers of potatoes, thus peelingthe potatoes.

In the peeling apparatus described in Japanese Patent No. 3845677, threepairs of drum-shaped rotary blades are disposed in three stages downwardfrom above such that the gaps of the respective pairs are sequentiallylarge, medium, and small. When agricultural product such as potatoes ispeeled by the rotary blades of the highest stage and becomes small, itdrops naturally through the pair of rotary blades at the highest stageonto the pair of rotary blades at the middle stage. When theagricultural product is further peeled to become smaller than the gapbetween the rotary blades, it drops natural onto the rotary blades atthe lowest stage and is peeled.

In the agricultural product peeling apparatus described in JapaneseUtility Model Registration No. 3084921, a pair of cylinders each havingan outer surfaces with a large number of punching holes are disposed tooppose parallel to each other. The upper portion of a space between thecylinders forms a convey path for agricultural product such as potatoes.The two cylinders are rotated outward from each other to peel theagricultural product with the hole edges of the punching holes. Tofacilitate conveyance of the agricultural product, the pair of cylindersare disposed to be inclined with respect to the horizontal plane. Onehigher end side of the convey path is determined as the agriculturalproduct loading portion, and the other lower end side of the convey pathis determined as the discharge portion. The agricultural product loadedinto the loading portion sequentially moves along the convey path and ispeeled by the hole edges of the punching holes until it is dischargedfrom a discharge portion. More specifically, according to thisagricultural product peeling apparatus, the agricultural product loadedinto the convey path is moved along the convey path while it is tossedup or rolled by rotation of the cylinders, and is then peeled by thehole edges of the punching holes.

The peeling machine described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.2002-253190 employs a so-called batch scheme. According to this scheme,each time a predetermined number of potatoes are loaded into the outercylinder and peeled, they must be removed from the outer cylinder.Hence, continuous operation cannot be performed, and the workingefficiency is low.

In addition, the number of potatoes that can be loaded at once must beadjusted according to the sizes, shapes, and the like of the potatoes.Hence, the processing efficiency is not constant.

As the peeling apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.8-504567 uses water, it requires appropriate drainage facilities. Inrecent years, drainage regulations are becoming very strict. To processthe waste water as industrial wastes, the skin and water must beseparated. Thus, the processing time prolongs and the cost increases.

In the peeling machine described in Japanese Patent No. 3845677, thedrum-shaped rotary blade shafts are disposed in the three stages.Accordingly, a vertical conveyor is necessary to temporarily lift thepotatoes to be supplied to the rotary blade shafts. This increases theheight of the entire apparatus and complicates the structure.

In the agricultural product peeling apparatus described in JapaneseUtility Model Registration No. 3084921, since the two cylinders aredisposed to be inclined downward, the loaded potatoes move while rollingon the downwardly inclined cylinders. This movement is not forced and isaccordingly unreliable. Therefore, the peeled state (accuracy) is notconstant and cannot be adjusted, and the working speed (efficiency) isnot constant. More specifically, although it is possible to try toadjust the feed speed by setting the angles of inclination of thecylinders, the peeled state and processing time inevitably change due tochanges in sizes and shapes of the potatoes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a so-called drytype, simple-structure agricultural product peeling apparatus which doesnot use water and can stably perform peeling continuously at highaccuracy.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the presentinvention, there is provided an agricultural product peeling apparatuscomprising a alignment supply unit which arranges and suppliesagricultural product such as potatoes, a peeling unit which includes apair of parallel rotary members with a cutting body on outer surfacesthereof and peels the agricultural product, sequentially supplied fromthe alignment supply unit to a convey path formed between the rotarymembers, with the cutting body, and a plurality of urging plates whichmove the agricultural product supplied to a start end side of the conveypath to a terminal end side of the convey path.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an agricultural product peeling apparatusaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of this agricultural product peeling apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a side view of this agricultural product peeling apparatusfrom which the side plate of a peeling unit has been removed;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view of a reception hopper and its peripheryof this peeling unit;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the main bodies of rotary members;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a reception detection sensor;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line VII-VII of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a rear view of this peeling apparatus;

FIG. 9A is a plan view showing a rotary member according to anotherembodiment;

FIG. 9B is a plan view showing a rotary member according to stillanother embodiment;

FIG. 9C is a plan view showing rotary members according to still anotherembodiment;

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a rotary member according to stillanother embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a plan view of the main part of this peeling unit;

FIG. 12 is a sectional view taken along the line XII-XII of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a sectional view taken along the line XIII-XIII of FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a plan view showing a support member according to anotherembodiment;

FIG. 15 is a sectional view taken along the line XV-XV of FIG. 14; and

FIG. 16 is a sectional view taken along the line XVI-XVI of FIG. 15.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will be described hereinafter in detail by way ofembodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, an agricultural product peeling apparatus100 according to this embodiment comprises a supply device A, a hopperB, two systems of alignment supply units (feeders) C, a peeling unit D,and the like from the supply side to the discharge side in the conveydirection (the direction of an arrow 101 in FIG. 1) of the agriculturalproduct P. The supply device A sequentially supplies agriculturalproduct P such as potatoes. The hopper B receives the agriculturalproduct P. The alignment supply units (feeders) C sequentially supplythe agricultural product P downward while arranging it. The peeling unitD is provided downstream of the respective alignment supply units C andpeels the agricultural product P.

The supply device A comprises a pivotal arm 2 on which a container 1 canbe mounted and which can move vertically, and a gas damper 3 which holdsthe pivotal arm 2. The pivotal arm 2 can pivot between acontainer-placed posture (the horizontal state indicated by a solid linein FIG. 1) in which the container 1 is mounted, and an agriculturalproduct supply posture (the vertical state indicated by alternate longand two short dashed lines in FIG. 1) in which the mounted container 1is fallen sideways to supply the agricultural product P to the hopper B.A handle 4 to pivot the pivotal arm 2 is attached to the distal end ofthe pivotal arm 2.

The hopper B has two discharge ports 6 with wider widths on the side ofa reception port 5 (FIG. 2) and corresponding to the respectivealignment supply units C, and is disposed to be inclined such that itsside on the discharge ports 6 is lower than the reception port 5, inother words, such that it is inclined toward the peeling unit D.Therefore, the agricultural products P supplied from the supply device Ato the hopper B are temporarily stored in the hopper B, graduallydischarged from the respective discharge ports 6, and supplied to thetwo systems of alignment supply units C.

The two systems of alignment supply units C convey the agriculturalproducts P supplied from the discharge ports 6 of the hopper B towardthe peeling unit D while aligning them in a row. For this purpose, eachalignment supply unit C comprises a conveying plate body 7, a spring(not shown), and a vibration mechanism 9. In the conveying plate body 7,a large number of elastic projections are formed on a stainless steelbase which has an arcuate section with warped two sides. The springelastically supports the conveying plate body 7. The vibration mechanism9 vibrates the conveying plate body 7.

The agricultural products P supplied onto the conveying plate body 7 arealigned in a row by the vibration applied by the vibration mechanism 9and are conveyed to the peeling unit D. Where necessary, a drive signalfrom a controller (not shown) controls the vibration of the vibrationmechanism 9. This adjusts the number of agricultural products P to besupplied to the peeling unit D. In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 10denotes a machine frame which supports the supply device A, hopper B,and alignment supply units C.

The peeling unit D comprises two systems of peeling lines D1 and D2which peel the agricultural products P sequentially supplied from therespective alignment supply units C.

The peeling line D1 comprises a pair of parallel rotary members 13 whichhorizontally extend downstream of the corresponding alignment supplyunit C. The rotary members 13 comprise hollow cylinders, have cuttingbodies 12 formed on their outer surfaces, and rotatably, horizontallyextend parallel to machine frames 11 a and 11 b to be spaced apart by anarrow gap through which the agricultural products P will not drop. Anupper space (V-shaped valley) between the corresponding rotary members13 forms a convey path 14 which conveys the agricultural products P.

The cutting bodies 12 comprise punching holes (the cutting bodies willbe referred to as punching holes hereinafter) formed of a large numberof through holes.

When the agricultural products P are supplied from each alignment supplyunit C to the corresponding convey path 14 between the pair of rotarymembers 13 through a corresponding reception chute 16 (see FIGS. 3 and4), they move from the loading portion toward the discharge portion at apredetermined speed along the corresponding convey path 14. During thismovement, the hole edges of the punching holes 12 of the rotary members13 peel the skins covering the surfaces of the agricultural products P,and the peeled agricultural products P are discharged to a dischargechute 17. If the rotary members 13 comprising cylinders are formed bypunching metal plates from the lower surfaces to form the punching holes12, fins 12 a form on the hole edges of the punching holes 12 on theupper surfaces of the rotary members 13, as shown in FIG. 5. Eachpunching hole 12 is formed by punching while shifting the positions of apunch and die. Then, the fin 12 a does not have a uniform height on theentire circumference of the hole edge, but its height has a gradientthat gradually decreases in the rotational direction of thecorresponding rotary member 13. When the fin 12 a has a gradient in thismanner, it bites into the surface of the agricultural product P andserves as a cutting body. Hence, the peeling efficiency becomes higherthan that of a punching hole with no fin (this resembles a file thatcannot cut well when it is moved in a direction opposite to thedirection of its saw). As the peeling line D2 has the same structure asthat of the peeling line D1, the same components, same portions, andsame locations of the peeling line D2 are denoted by the same referencenumerals, and a repetitive description will be omitted.

The pair of rotary members 13 rotate such that their upper outersurfaces move outward, as indicated by arrows in FIG. 5, to toss up theagricultural products P in the convey path 14. Simultaneously, urgingplates 15 (to be described later) forcibly move the agriculturalproducts P from the start side to the end side, in other words, from theupstream side to the downstream side. A skin discharging conveyor 18,which discharges the waste of the peeled skin to the side of a machineframe 11, is disposed under the rotary members 13.

The rotary members 13 will be described in more detail. Each rotarymember 13 comprises a cylindrical main body portion 13 a (a portion inFIG. 3 from which the shafts at two ends are removed) formed of apunching plate, and a pair of shafts 13 b and 13 c provided to the twoends of the main body portion 13 a. The main body portion 13 a has adiameter of 165 mm and a length of about 1.3 m. Such a rotary member 13can be fabricated easily at a low cost by bending the punching plateinto a cylinder, welding the two end edges of the cylinder in thecircumferential direction, and forming the shafts 13 b and 13 c at thetwo ends in the axial direction. The diameter and length of the mainbody portion 13 a can be arbitrarily set within ranges of about 100 mmto 200 mm and about 1 m to 2 m, respectively. The punching holes 12formed in the outer surface of the main body portion 13 a cover theentire outer surface of the main body portion 13 a, and their diameterscan be appropriately set within the range of, e.g., about 6 mm to 20 mm.In this embodiment, all the punching holes 12 have the same holediameter (see FIGS. 3 to 5).

If the hole diameters of the punching holes 12 are small, only the skincan be peeled and the medullary portion (the edible portion) is not cutmuch, thus providing a high yield. Also, the outer surface of theagricultural products P can be cut smoothly like a ball. With suchpunching holes 12, however, peeling takes time. On the other hand, ifthe hole diameters of the punching holes 12 are large, the medullaryportion is cut in a large amount to provide a low yield. Also, the outersurface of the agricultural product P is cut coarsely, and the resultantshape is not like a ball. With such punching holes 12, however, thepeeling time can be shortened. When peeling taros, kiwi fruits,avocados, and the like, punching holes 12 with smaller hole diametersthan those for peeling potatoes will be appropriate.

When the hole diameters of all the punching holes 12 are the same andthe moving speed of the agricultural products P is constant, so-calledsmall-size agricultural products P are started to be peeled at the startpoint of the convey path 14, and are peeled almost completely by thetime it moves to the intermediate portion of the convey path 14. Incontrast to this, comparatively large-size agricultural products P areonly peeled completely when they reach the end point of the convey path14. In other words, for the small-size agricultural products P, theconvey path 14 may be short; for the large-size agricultural products P,a longer convey path 14 is needed. This situation can be coped with bychanging the supply position onto the convey path 14 in accordance withthe size of the agricultural product P. For example, comparativelylarge-size agricultural products P may be supplied at the start point ofthe convey path 14. If the agricultural products P are of a small size,the supply unit may be set beside or above the peeling unit D, so thatthe agricultural products P can be supplied at the intermediate portionof the convey path 14.

The punching holes 12 of the rotary member 13 are not limited topunching holes of the same hole diameters. A plurality of types ofpunching holes 12 having different hole diameters can be formed. Forexample, as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, to peel the agricultural productsP neatly, the hole diameters of the punching holes 12 at the start side(upstream side in the convey path 14) of the rotary member 13 may belarge, and the hole diameters of the punching holes 12 at the end side(downstream side in the convey path 14) may be small.

A rotary member 13 shown in FIG. 9A is an example in which punchingholes 12 with a hole diameter of 10 mm are formed to cover a regioncorresponding to about ⅔ of the rotary members 13 on the start side, andpunching holes 12 with a hole diameter of 6 mm are formed to cover aregion corresponding to the remaining ⅓ of the rotary member 13.

A rotary member 13 shown in FIG. 9B is an example in which punchingholes 12 with a hole diameter of 17 mm are formed to cover a regioncorresponding to ⅓ of the rotary member 13 on the start side, punchingholes 12 with a hole diameter of 10 mm are formed to cover a centralregion corresponding to ⅓ of the rotary member 13 and punching holes 12with a hole diameter of 6 mm are formed to cover a region correspondingto ⅓ of the rotary member 13 on the end side. With this arrangement, thesurface of the agricultural product P can be cut coarsely on the startside and smoothly on the end side.

FIG. 9C shows an example in which, in place of round punching holes 12,elliptic punching holes 12′ of the same size are formed obliquely withrespect to the axis of each rotary member 13. For example, the punchingholes 12′ are inclined such that their downstream ends are closer to theinside of a convey path 14 than their upstream ends. However, thepresent invention is not limited to this, and the punching holes 12′ maybe inclined outward. This can bias the agricultural products Pdownstream outside the rotary members 13. More specifically, the cuttingresistance of the punching holes 12′ with an angle of inclination,together with the urging plates 15, can feed the agricultural products Pdownstream while peeling them.

Assume that the elliptic punching holes 12′ are formed such that theirsizes are large at the start side of the rotary member 13 and graduallydecrease toward the end side. In the same manner as the rotary members13 shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, the skin of the agricultural product P isroughly cut by the large punching holes 12′ formed on the start side ofthe rotary member 13, and thereafter the angular portions on the skin ofthe agricultural product P left by the rough cutting are cut by thesmall punching holes 12′ formed on the end side of the rotary member 13.Then, the outer surface of the agricultural product P can be cutsmoothly.

The hole diameters of the punching holes 12 may be changed more finelyfrom the start side toward the end side as in a rotary member 13 shownin FIG. 10. More specifically, FIG. 10 shows an example in which seventypes of punching holes 12 with hole diameters of 18 mm, 16 mm, 14 mm,12 mm, 10 mm, 8 mm, and 6 mm are formed in the rotary member 13.

In this manner, the hole diameters of the punching holes 12 may becontinuously changed (e.g., decreased in units of mm), or may be changedfor the respective segments. Assume that the hole diameters aregradually decreased. If rough cutting is performed with the largepunching holes 12 located on the start side of the rotary member 13 andangular portions left by the rough cutting are subjected to finishcutting with the punching holes 12 with small hole diameters located onthe end side, the outer surface of the agricultural product P can besmoothed. The hole diameters of the punching holes 12 of the rotarymember 13 are appropriately determined considering the type and size ofthe agricultural product P, the cutting surface, the yield, theprocessing time, and the like.

The rotational speed of the rotary member 13 is preferably about 700 rpmto 1,400 rpm. The rotational speed is appropriately set together withthe moving velocity of the urging plates 15 on the basis of therelationship between the peeling efficiency and accuracy. Although thepair of rotary members 13 are usually rotated at the same rotationalspeed, their rotational speeds may differ from each other. In this case,the ratio of rotational speed (velocity) should fall within the range of1:1 to 0.5. In this range, the agricultural products P can be forciblytossed up and rolled in the convey path 14 depending on the differencein rotational speed (velocity). Even large agricultural products P canbe peeled evenly and neatly throughout the entire surface when comparedto a case in which the pair of rotary members 13 are rotated at the samespeed.

Referring to FIGS. 2 to 4, the urging plates 15 are mounted on anendless moving mechanism E. The endless moving mechanism E comprises twosets of sprockets, i.e., a pair of front and rear sprockets 21 and 22respectively located above the end and start sides of the correspondingrotary member 13 and a pair of front and rear sprockets 24 and 25respectively located above the end and start sides of the correspondingrotary member 13, two endless chains 20 and 23, a plurality of supportrods 26, a motor 27, and the like. The chain 20 extends between thesprockets 21 and 22, and the chain 23 extends between the sprockets 24and 25. The support rods 26 extend on the chains 20 and 23 atpredetermined intervals. The motor 27 causes the chains 20 and 23 totravel in synchronism with each other in the convey direction of theagricultural product P. The urging plates 15 are attached to therespective support rods 26.

When the motor 27 drives the chains 20 and 23 to travel, the urgingplates 15 move within the convey path 14 at predetermined intervalstogether with the chains 20 and 23 to move the agricultural products Ploaded in the handle 4 from the loading portion toward the dischargeportion.

The drive signal from the controller controls the motor 27 and drives itwhen conveying the agricultural products P, so that the chains 20 and 23travel at speeds of about 25 mm/s to 90 mm/s. With respect to the holediameters of the punching holes 12 of the rotary members 13, preferably,the larger the hole diameters, the faster the chains 20 and 23 travel.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 11 to 13, the agricultural products peelingapparatus 100 further comprises a support member 31 which supports theagricultural products P on the convey path 14 from below.

While the urging plates 15 move the agricultural products P on theconvey path 14 from the supply side toward the discharge side, the pairof rotary members 13 peel the agricultural products P. In this process,heavy agricultural products P or large agricultural products P are nottossed up or do not roll but tend to move on the convey path 14 as theyare sandwiched between the rotary members 13. In this case, theagricultural products P become flat as the hole edges of the punchingholes 12 cut only their lower portions. This degrades the commercialvalue and yield.

In view of this, the support member 31 is arranged under the convey path14 formed between the rotary members 13. When each agricultural productP is peeled to a certain degree, the support member 31 supports it frombelow so as not to be sandwiched by the rotary members 13. Then, theagricultural product P will not be cut any deeper. As the agriculturalproduct P is tossed up and rolls above the support member 31, it willnot be cut flat but can be peeled evenly and neatly throughout theentire surface.

Desirably, the support member 31 may be provided such that its two endsare fixed to the machine frames 11 a and 11 b and that its upper surfacethat supports each agricultural product P is located above a plane(horizontal plane) OP (see FIG. 11) including center axes O of the pairof rotary members 13. When peeling, the height of the support member 31,or the proportion of a portion 31 a to a portion 31 b of the supportmember 31, may be changed in accordance with the size and weight of theagricultural product P. The portions 31 a and 31 b are formed by bendingthe support member 31 partly. The portion 31 a is located above theplane OP, and the portion 31 b is located below the plane OP, as shownin FIGS. 14 to 16 as another embodiment. When the agricultural product Pis large, the height of the support member 31 may be increased, or thelength of the portion 31 a located above the plane OP may be increased.When the agricultural product P is small, the height of the supportmember 31 may be decreased, or the length of the portion 31 a may bedecreased. As the support member 31, a wire, or a plate which is wide inthe direction of height, or the like can be used to maintain the highrigidity. The width of the support member 31 may be about 8 mm (if thesupport member 31 is a wire, the diameter may be about 8 mm). Thesupport member 31 with an appropriate width or diameter is desirablyused in accordance with the size of the agricultural product P.

In the agricultural product peeling apparatus 100 having the abovestructure, the alignment supply units C perform the following twocontrol operations simultaneously.

(1) Supply Control for Peeling Unit D (Avoidance of Dangerous Zone)

The agricultural products P to be supplied to the peeling unit D shouldbe gathered without colliding against the edges of the urging plates 15.The urging plates 15 should not ride on the agricultural products P, andthe chains 20 and 23 should not spring up. The urging plates 15 shouldnot pierce the agricultural products P to damage them. Then, theagricultural products P are supplied appropriately. For this purpose,first, the alignment supply units C are controlled in the followingmanner.

Several (about four to six) agricultural products P are aligned to matchthe pitch (the intervals of the support rods 26) of the urging plates 15fixed to the chains 20 and 23. Then, the alignment supply units C aretemporarily stopped to make a supply space (FIG. 4). More specifically,as shown in FIG. 4, supply of the following agricultural products P istemporarily stopped to prevent the edge of the urging plate 15 a comingfrom above the corresponding reception chute 16 from riding on theagricultural product P.

Each rotary member 13 peels the plurality of agricultural products P inthe corresponding reception chute 16 with the punching holes 12 as theurging plates 15 a and 15 b push the agricultural products P downward,or regulate the flow of the agricultural products P. When the urgingplates 15 a coming from above the reception chutes 16 have moved to aposition where they will not ride on the agricultural products P, thealignment supply units C are started again.

This control operation takes in the following manner.

The urging plates 15 move at a speed of about 25 mm/s to 90 mm/s, asdescribed above. When each support rod 26 which attaches thecorresponding urging plates 15 to the chains 20 and 23 reaches theposition of a feeder stopping sensor 28 (see FIG. 3) of the alignmentsupply units C (that is, when the urging plates 15 reach the position ofthe feeder stopping sensor 28), the feeder stopping sensor 28 detectsthis support rod 26. This detection signal stops the alignment supplyunits C that have been vibrating so far. When the urging plates 15further advance and reach the position of a feeder starting sensor 29,the sensor 29 detects the corresponding support rod 26. Thus, thealignment supply units C vibrate again to resume supply of theagricultural products P.

When the next urging plates 15 reach the position of the feeder stoppingsensor 28, the alignment supply units C stop again. When the urgingplates 15 reach the position of the feeder starting sensor 29 and thesensor 28 detects the corresponding support rod 26, the alignment supplyunits C start to vibrate again. Then, each time the sensors 28 and 29detect each urging plate 15, the same operation is repeated, and theagricultural products P are supplied and peeled continuously.

The number of agricultural products P which are aligned between theadjacent urging plates 15 and stored in each reception chute 16 changesdepending on the duration of the vibration time and stopping time of thealignment supply unit C which are determined by the moving velocity ofthe urging plates 15 and the distance from the feeder stopping sensor 28to the feeder starting sensor 29, the strength of the vibration of thealignment supply unit C, and the shapes and sizes (weights) of theagricultural products P.

Therefore, the number of agricultural products P can be adjusted by thepositions of the sensors 28 and 29, the velocity of the urging plates15, and the strength of the vibration of the alignment supply unit C.Although proximity switches are used as the sensors 28 and 29, otherswitches, e.g., photoelectric switches, limit switches, or the like canbe used as the sensors 28 and 29 as far as they can detect the supportrod 26.

(2) Count Control

In addition to supply control for the peeling unit D of the above item(1), secondly, the following control is performed on the basis of thenumber of agricultural products P to be supplied to each reception chute16.

More specifically, in supplying the agricultural products P from eachalignment supply unit C to the corresponding reception chute 16, sensors30 (see FIGS. 4 and 6) provided to the reception chute 16 count thenumber of agricultural products P. If a preset number of agriculturalproducts P are stored in the reception chute 16 or on the start ends ofthe rotary members 13, the alignment supply unit C is stopped even if itneed not be stopped by the control operation of the item (1). Thisprevents excessive supply. Although the opposing photoelectric switchesare used as the sensors 30, switches of other types such as limitswitches can be used.

When the urging plate 15 guides the stored agricultural products Pdownstream and the next urging plate 15 moves for a predetermineddistance to reach the feeder starting sensor 29, the alignment supplyunit C is started again, and counting of the number of agriculturalproducts P is started again.

With only the control operation of the above item (1), the number ofsupplied products may change depending on the time of vibration of thealignment supply unit C, the magnitude of the vibration, and the shapesand sizes of the agricultural products P. For example, when a large,heavy product P is included, if the vibration is weak, the supply speedmay decrease undesirably. If control on the basis of supply count isperformed in addition to the control operation of the above item (1),even when the vibration of the alignment supply unit C is increased,excessive supply to the reception chutes 16 can be prevented.Consequently, the same number of agricultural products P can be suppliedto the peeling unit D regardless of the variations in size of theagricultural product P.

In this manner, with the agricultural product peeling apparatus 100according to the present invention, the control operations of both theabove items (1) and (2) are performed, so that the agricultural productsP can be stably supplied to the peeling unit D under any conditions.More specifically, the intervals of the agricultural products P to bepeeled become almost uniform regardless of the sizes or weights of theagricultural products P. The peeling accuracy thus becomes uniform andstable to provide high yield. Accordingly, the number of peeledagricultural products P per unit time becomes stable.

According to the present invention, when the agricultural product P iscut to a certain degree, the support member 31 provided under the conveypath 14 supports it from below. This prevents the agricultural product Pfrom being conveyed as it is sandwiched between the pair of rotarymembers 13. Consequently, the agricultural product P moves while tossingup or rolling on the support member 31. During this movement, theagricultural product P is evenly peeled by the hole edges of thepunching holes 12 or 12′. Therefore, the agricultural product P will notbe cut flat, so that the peeling yield can be improved.

As the support member 31 supports the agricultural product P with partor the entire portion of its upper surface, it can control the cuttingamount during peeling.

In the above embodiment, the endless moving mechanism moves the urgingplates 15. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Anauger screw may be provided in the convey path 14, and be used as anurging plate to move the agricultural products P.

In the above embodiment, the rotary members 13 are formed cylindrically,and a large number of punching holes 12 or 12′ formed in their outersurfaces are used as the cutting bodies to peel the agriculturalproducts P. However, the present invention is not limited to this, andholes may be formed by machining. Alternatively, files or blades withshapes similar to those of the fins 12 a shown in FIG. 5 may be formedon the outer surfaces of the rotary members 13, and may be used ascutting bodies.

1. An agricultural product peeling apparatus comprising: an alignmentsupply unit which aligns and supplies agricultural products such aspotatoes; a peeling unit which includes a pair of parallel rotarymembers with a cutting body on outer surfaces thereof and peels withsaid cutting body the agricultural products, sequentially supplied fromsaid alignment supply unit to a convey path formed between said rotarymembers; and a plurality of urging plates which move the agriculturalproducts supplied to a start side of said convey path to an end side ofsaid convey path.
 2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein saidurging plates are disposed at needed intervals in a convey direction ofthe agricultural products.
 3. An apparatus according to claim 1, furthercomprising an endless moving mechanism which moves said urging plates.4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said alignment supply unitfurther comprises a stopping sensor which temporarily stops supply ofthe agricultural products upon detection of each of said urging plates,and a starting sensor which resumes supply of the agricultural productsupon detection of said each urging plate after said stopping sensordetects said each urging plate.
 5. An apparatus according to claim 1,wherein said alignment supply unit temporarily stops supply of theagricultural products after supplying a predetermined number ofagricultural products to said peeling unit, and resumes supply of theagricultural products when said each urging plate reach a predeterminedposition.
 6. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said pair ofrotary members comprise cylinders, and said cutting body comprises aplurality of punching holes formed in outer surfaces of said cylinders.7. An apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said punching holescomprise a plurality of types of punching holes with different holediameters.
 8. An apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said punchingholes have hole diameters that gradually decrease from a start sidetoward an end side of said pair of rotary members.
 9. An apparatusaccording to claim 6, wherein said punching holes have elliptic shapeswhich are inclined with respect to axes of said pair of rotary members.10. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said pair of rotarymembers have different rotational speeds.
 11. An apparatus according toclaim 1, further comprising a support member which extends in saidconvey path to support the agricultural product.
 12. An apparatusaccording to claim 11, wherein one of part and an entire portion of anupper surface of said support member is located above a plane includingcenter axes of said pair of rotary members.